On the same day that Florida lawmakers refused to even debate a ban on assault weapons they declared porn a danger to the public. Say what?

Stoneman Douglas students watch as Florida legislators reject ban on assault weapons.

Courtesy of CNN: 

What's more of a public health risk -- assault weapons or porn? 

Almost a week after 17 students and teachers were gunned down at a Florida high school, the state legislature voted 71-36 Tuesday against a measure to consider a ban on semi-automatic weapons.

But they declared pornography to be public health risk.

This almost too stupid to address. 

And it just goes to show that Republicans fear sex far more than they do actual instruments of death.

Somebody should ask one of them, "When was the last time that an adult video caused something to go off accidentally which killed an innocent bystander?

The new chairperson of senate committee that oversees education in Arizona believes church should be mandatory, the earth is only 6,000 years old, and that chem trails in the sky are manipulating the weather.

Courtesy of 12 News: 

An Arizona lawmaker who believes the Earth is 6,000 years old is the new chairwoman of the state Senate committee that oversees education-related legislation.

Here are a few of state senator Sylvia Allen's more controversial viewpoints:

The earth is only six thousand years old.

Church attendance should be mandatory:  

The original comment occurred during a vote on legislation to allow individuals who have permits to carry concealed weapons to bring them into public buildings. Allen said she did not understand the opposition and talked about moral breakdown. 

“Probably we should be debating a bill requiring every American to attend a church of their choice on Sunday to see if we can get back to having a moral rebirth,” adding “that would never be allowed.” 

Sen. Allen also thinks there is something hinky about those chem trails in the sky:  

Ok, I do not want to get into a debate about weather. However, I know what I see weekly up here on the flat where I live outside of Snowflake. The planes usely, three or four, fly a grid across the sky and leave long white trails streaming behind them. I have watched the chem-trails move out until the entire sky is covered with flimsy, thin cloud cover. It is not the regular exhaust coming from the plane it is something they are spraying. It is there in plain sight. What is it they are leaving behind that covers the sky? 

Things are happening all around us that we see everyday and just don't get what it is. I think we throw the "conspiracy theory" at people when we don't understand or have the information they have so we try and explain it that way. Plus we just don't want to believe that our government would do anything terrible to us. Well, just a few examples, the IRS attack on the Tea Party, Benghazi, wire taping, Fast and Furious just to name a few and we think that they would not manipulate our weather?

Okay so why is Sarah Palin selling her Arizona home and moving back to Alaska again?

If these are not her people, then who is?

Apparently in Michigan if you are a family values politician who tries to cover up the affair that you're having with a female colleague by spreading gossip that you were caught having sex with a male prostitute, you can lose your job. Who knew?

Courtesy of Michigan Live:  

Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat, embattled lawmakers accused of misconduct and misusing taxpayer resources to hide their extra-marital affair, are no longer representatives in the Michigan House. 

Courser, R-Lapeer, resigned at 3:12 a.m. on Friday as the House prepared for a third vote on a resolution to expel him from office. 

One hour later, the House voted 91-12 to expel Gamrat, R-Plainwell, making her just the fourth lawmaker ever to be removed from the Michigan Legislature by her peers. 

Gamrat was immediately escorted from the chambers, and then the state Capitol, by House sergeants. She declined to speak with the media. 

Courser, who spoke with reporters after turning in his resignation letter to the House clerk and walking off the floor, said it simply felt like the appropriate moment to step down. He was convinced the GOP majority was going to find enough Democratic votes to expel him.

As I am sure many of you remember Courser planned to inoculate himself against charges that he was banging his fellow legislator by launching a smear campaign against himself which would accuse him of having been caught having sex with a male prostitute.

Which kind of sounds more like an episode of Alpha House than it does an actual plan in the real world. 

Unfortunately for Courser he was caught on tape making those plans for the smear campaign, and that was essentially that.

And of course the cherry on top is that both Garner and Courser were holier than thou Christian moralists who were adamantly against gay marriage,

Which has now become the easiest to spot plot twist ever.

Governor Walker will use executive order to bypass obstructionist Republicans and expand Medicaid in Alaska.

Courtesy of Alaska Dispatch:  

Gov. Bill Walker said Thursday he would use his executive power to expand the public Medicaid health-care program to newly cover as many as 40,000 low-income residents. 

The decision comes after the Alaska Legislature earlier this year rejected Walker’s efforts to expand the program through the state budget process, then adjourned without allowing a vote on a separate expansion bill. 

Walker’s move makes Alaska one of 30 states to approve Medicaid expansion, a key plank of the federal Affordable Care Act, or "Obamacare," that was aimed at cutting health-care costs and giving more Americans insurance. 

And that my friends is why we elected Walker even though he was tainted by support from Sarah Palin. 

Just speaking for myself this is hugely important, as I do not qualify for insurance even under Obamacare, without this expansion.

I have never in my life had health insurance, and used to joke that my insurance was a gym membership. However folks I am in my mid-fifties now and that's just not going to be enough anymore.

Thanks Governor Walker.

Rather than comply with a court ruling that finds a Ten Commandments monument in violation of the state's constitution Oklahoma lawmakers want to change that part of their constitution.

Courtesy of Tulsa World:  

Gov. Mary Fallin on Tuesday said the Ten Commandments monument will stay at the Capitol despite a court ruling that said it violated the state Constitution and must be removed. 

Fallin said Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt has asked the Oklahoma Supreme Court to reconsider its 7-2 decision, which was handed down last week after a challenge by the ACLU of Oklahoma on behalf of three plaintiffs. 

In addition, lawmakers have filed legislation to let people vote on whether to remove a portion of the state Constitution cited in the ruling. Article II, Section 5 of the constitution reads: 

“No public money or property shall ever be appropriated, applied, donated, or used, directly or indirectly, for the use, benefit, or support of any sect, church, denomination, or system of religion, or for the use, benefit, or support of any priest, preacher, minister, or other religious teacher or dignitary, or sectarian institution as such,” according to the Oklahoma Constitution. 

The court said the monument was obviously religious in nature and an integral part of the Jewish and Christian faiths. The constitution bans the state from using public money or property for the benefit of any religious purpose, according to the opinion.

So to be clear these lawmakers are actually willing to change their state's constitution in order to be allowed to put up a display of the Ten Commandments on the Capitol grounds.

Thereby placing Christianity as more important than the laws of the state as determined by their founders.

Yeah, nothing troubling about that.

Remind me, this is the 21st Century, right?

A Texas bill that would have banned same sex marriage dies a well deserved death.

Courtesy of Washington Post: 

A bill that was seen as a preemptive strike during Supreme Court deliberations over same-sex marriage died in the Texas legislature early Friday. 

The bill would have barred local officials from issuing marriage licenses to gay couples and would have withheld state and local funds for such a purpose. While experts say it may not have withstood a legal challenge, its supporters say it would have sent a message to the Supreme Court and potentially delayed same-sex marriage in the courts. 

The bill would have had to pass the House by the end of the day Thursday to remain in play for the legislative session, which ends June 1. The majority of the chamber’s members had signed on as co-authors, assuring its passage had it reached the floor. But it failed to come up for a vote after opponents of the measure mounted delay tactics that ran out the clock.

Man I cannot get over how desperately some of these states are fighting against the inevitable.

Gay marriage is coming folks.

So either rent that tux and join the most fabulous wedding parties you have ever imagined, or lock yourselves in your house, unplug your television and computers, and hide under your beds in the fetal position til Jesus comes to get ya.

Alaska legislators essentially reverse the will of the voters with changes to Marijuana bill.

Courtesy of the Alaska Dispatch: 

Legislators on Wednesday heard public testimony about the newest version of a bill that deals with the criminal aspects of marijuana law in Alaska. 

Introduced Monday in the Senate Finance Committee, the new version of SB 30 reinstates marijuana as a controlled substance. Among other changes to the bill, some crimes could be prosecuted as felonies, and an open container is broadly defined. 

The bill had passed from the Senate Judiciary Committee, which drafted a bill that removed marijuana from the list of controlled substances. 

Judiciary committee member Bill Wielechowski, D-Anchorage, expressed frustration Wednesday regarding the bill’s changes in the finance committee. 
 ....

Wielechowski called placing marijuana back on the controlled substances list a “slippery slope of philosophy," saying that if marijuana is viewed as a controlled substance, and thus a dangerous substance, then legislation is crafted with a different mindset. That’s why felonies have shown up in the bill, Wielechowski said. 

“People can say it’s just a philosophical debate … but you’re seeing real policy ramifications,” Wielechowski said. 

I can tell you right now that the public response to this is going to be deafening.

Voters were quite clear that they wanted the recreational use of pot to be legal, and that it should be sold just like alcohol is currently being sold.

This reversal could cause some serious political problems for the lawmakers who get blamed for it.

Trust me.

New bill in Texas would allow teachers to use deadly force against students in order to protect school property. Seriously?

Courtesy of The Houston Chronicle: 

Teachers would be able to use deadly force against students, and would be safe from prosecution, under legislation filed last week in the state House. 

The Teacher’s Protection Act by Rep. Dan Flynn, R-Van, would allow educators to use force or deadly force if they feel they need to protect themselves against a student or anyone else on school grounds. It also allows teachers to use deadly force to protect school property, and to avoid prosecution “for injury or death that results from the educator’s use of deadly force.”

To be clear here when they say "deadly force" they are talking guns. After all this IS Texas.

Apparently there is already a law in place that allows any adult to carry a gun on school grounds as long as they have permission from the principal. 

Look I am all in favor of allowing teachers to defend themselves against violence from students, and to protect others as well, but shooting an unarmed child, regardless of HOW big and violent they are, is simply insane.

And the idea that you could end their life simply because they got angry and broke a window or a computer is even more insane.

Things can be replaced, children cannot.

Which begs the question, "WTF is going on in Texas?"

In response to belligerent and aggressive open carry advocates Texas House of Representatives installing panic buttons.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

In the wake of increasingly large and frequent protests by the open carry movement, the Texas House of Representatives approved rules that would allow for the installation of panic buttons and give representatives the power to have “hostile” citizens summarily ejected from their offices, The Houston Chronicle reports. 

The day before these rules were passed, members of Open Carry Tarrant County spent time visiting the offices of lawmakers who opposed House Bill 195, which would overturn the state’s 125-year-long ban on openly carrying handguns. 

Two Democratic representatives — Poncho Nevarez and Celia Israel — claimed that members of Open Carry Tarrant County harassed them. A Facebook post by group member Kory Watkins bears out Nevarez’s claim:

Post by Kory Watkins.

Did you hear all of that? 

I swear the guy behind the camera phone, this Kory Watkins character, sounds like he is just looking for a reason to shoot somebody.

These idiots are proving everyday why it is important to have stricter gun control laws in this country.

There are actually people in the world who chose Texas Rep. Louis Gohmert as legislator of the year for 2015. No, I am not kidding.

Courtesy of Eastex Advocate:

Over 300 people packed the atrium of the Omni Downtown Hotel in Austin Monday night for the Deep East Texas Reception. The event, honoring state officials and legislators representing the Deep East Texas region, was held the night before the convening of the 84rd Session of the Texas Legislature. 

State officials and state agency administrators met and got acquainted with representatives of the event’s sponsors. Members of the Deep East Texas legislative delegation attended as guest of honor. 

Congressman Louie Gohmert was recognized as the “Deep East Texas Legislator of the Year 2015.” The award is given biannually to a legislator that has shown outstanding efforts on behalf of the people of Deep East Texas.

Now I have never been to, or even heard of, Deep East Texas, but I already know I never want to go there. 

I now imagine that is must be kind of like Australia in the 18th century. Meaning that it is the place where America sends its criminally insane sociopaths to keep them away from the regular folks.

Pro-Choice lawmakers are finally starting to go on offense in protecting a woman's right to choose.

Courtesy of The New Civil Rights Movement:  

On abortion issues, Democrats traditionally play defense. Over the last twenty years, that strategy has seen abortion rights eroded at an alarming rate. Once the Supreme Court ruled in 1992 that states could regulate abortions to “safeguard the health of the mother”, states used that canard as a fig leaf to disguise their attempts to keep women from accessing an abortion; and the floodgates opened. 

Clinics have been shuttered, but instead of fighting back, women just travel farther, often over state lines. States have demanded waiting periods and multiple visits, but instead of objecting, women take time off work, find someone to watch their kids, and stay alone in cheap motels, or sleep in their cars, because they can’t afford a room. Some states are forcing women to view sonograms and be impaled on unnecessary probes, but everyday women close their eyes and let it happen. In the states where they said “no convenient abortion drugs”, women sigh and spread their legs and endure the more dangerous surgical procedure. 

In some states doctors have been given permission to lie to pregnant patients without penalty. In others, doctors are told they must lie if they think the truth about her pregnancy might make the woman decide on an abortion. And women have accepted that too; accepted every last indignity, like an abused woman who thinks there is nothing she can do to end the beatings but try not to make her abuser angry. 

Finally, one lawmaker has had enough. Roll Call reported Wednesday, that Senator Richard Blumenthal from Connecticut, (left) will introduce the “Women’s Health Protection Act of 2013″, to stem what he called the “cascading wave of restrictions” states have been enacting.

Here is what the Women's Health Protection Act would accomplish:  

• Require any restriction imposed by a state to be “medically necessary”. 
• Preclude any state from enacting any restriction that world decrease access to abortion services. 
• Make illegal any restriction requiring doctors to go against their best medical judgement. Stop states from subjecting reproductive clinics to requirements that are not imposed on other medical specialties.” 
• Provide a legal benchmark for judges and justices deciding abortion cases. 

And Blumenthal is not alone, Senator Tammy Baldwin, Senator Barbara Boxer, Rep. Marcia Fudge, Rep.Judy Chu, and Rep. Lois Frankel also pledged their support.

This is long past due in my opinion.

Too long have those of us on the pro-choice side allowed the debate to be defined by the other side, and too long have we been reacting to their aggressive anti-women policies instead of acting first to put in place policies that would protect women from religiously inspired lawmakers who want to keep women "in their place."

I hope that this is just the beginning and that soon we will see a whole crop of new bills introduced to protect our women from theocrats and  misogynists.

When a good guy with a gun leaves it in the potty.

Courtesy of the Saint Louis Post Dispatch: 

According to a Capitol Police incident report, a Kahr CM9 9mm pistol – later claimed by House Speaker Tim Jones’ legislative assistant Dave Evans – was found on top of the toilet paper dispenser in a men's restroom in the Capitol basement Friday. The incident report states that the gun “was fully loaded with one round in the chamber and six rounds in the magazine.” 

Capitol police returned the gun to Evans after Jones’ secretary Lisa Bondurant called to report that it was misplaced. The incident report states that Evans didn't have paperwork for the gun with him, but he "offered a very detailed description of the weapon and the holster (and) was able to identify the weapon by the brand, caliber, color, size, the holster and the ammunition count and type that was in the weapon." 

Evans did not immediately respond to a call from the Post-Dispatch on Monday. 

No charges are expected in the incident. 

A law passed in 2011 allows Missouri legislators and their staffers to have guns in the Capitol if they have concealed gun permits.

Seriously, no charges?

You leave a loaded weapon out in public where ANYBODY could pick it up (You know bad guys have to take a tinkle once in awhile too.) and there is no consequence?

If some child had picked it up and shot himself or another person would there be a legal response then?

In my opinion if a person, regardless of any concealed gun permits, leaves that weapon where it can fall into the hands of a non-licensed individual they should immediately be stripped of their right to have a concealed weapon on their person at the very least.

Don't you think?

Give them an inch and they'll take ALL of a woman's reproductive rights away from her. Texas pushes "fetal heartbeat" bill which would effectively ban abortions at six weeks.

Courtesy of Salon:  

With the ink barely dry on Texas’ sweeping new abortion law, three Republican members of the state House on Thursday filed a so-called “fetal heartbeat” ban, a measure that would criminalize abortion as early as six weeks, before most women even know they’re pregnant. 

North Dakota is the only state to ban abortion at six weeks, though the law is currently being challenged by reproductive rights groups. 

There has been no official comment on the measure as of this posting, though it will undoubtedly face harsh criticism and fierce opposition from the thousands of Texans rallying against the Republican-controlled Legislature’s efforts to eliminate access to safe abortion care in the state.

Anybody who did NOT see this coming is an idiot.

The goal of these short sighted misogynists is to ban abortions completely, limit a woman's options by tying them to her reproductive cycle, and eventually take women out of the work force entirely and put them permanently back into the home "where they belong."

Every woman, and not simply those living in Texas, need to rally together and fight this while they still have rights left to fight for.

Openly atheist lawmaker asked to deliver the opening prayer for the Arizona House of Representatives. Does something awesome instead.

Courtesy of the Phoenix Times:

 An atheist state lawmaker tasked with delivering the opening prayer for this afternoon's session of the House of Representatives asked that people not bow their heads. 

Democratic Representative Juan Mendez, of Tempe, instead spoke about his "secular humanist tradition" and even quoted author Carl Sagan. 

"Most prayers in this room begin with a request to bow your heads," Mendez said. "I would like to ask that you not bow your heads. I would like to ask that you take a moment to look around the room at all of the men and women here, in this moment, sharing together this extraordinary experience of being alive and of dedicating ourselves to working toward improving the lives of the people in our state." 

As you can imagine -- especially now, with Arizona's legislature being controlled by religion-heavy Republicans -- this is probably the first time that an invocation at the legislature took that direction. 

"This is a room in which there are many challenging debates, many moments of tension, of ideological division, of frustration," Mendez said. "But this is also a room where, as my secular humanist tradition stresses, by the very fact of being human, we have much more in common than we have differences. We share the same spectrum of potential for care, for compassion, for fear, for joy, for love. Mendez continued, "Carl Sagan once wrote, 'For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.'"

You know ANYONE who quotes Carl Sagan in lieu of a prayer is my kind of guy.

We started the day with that courageous young lady schooling Wolf Blitzer about assuming a person's religious faith, and now we have this guy!  I have to say I have rarely been more proud to be an Atheist. 

Clearly we are becoming far more comfortable with ourselves in this country, and with more and more young people eschewing the trappings of religion, I think our time is finally here.

Hell you know you have arrived when even the Pope is willing to accept that you are good people.

Personally I see a day when we follow the lead of the gay community and start openly identifying ourselves as nonreligious and demonstrating to the close minded that we are just as ethical, and moral as anybody who identities themselves as religious. In fact, to be honest, we are even more so since we are not bullied into morality through threats of eternal damnation but rather choose our morality through careful examination of the world around us and decide to be good people with our eyes and our minds wide open.

Courageous Anchorage lawmaker decides to show local homophobic Baptist minister Jerry Prevo, that he is NOT above the law.

Jerry Prevo in the Anchorage Assembly chambers. That heavyset man on the right is his bodyguard. I kid you not.

From the pages of ADN:

An Anchorage lawmaker is asking the Alaska Legislature to undo a 2006 change in state law that stopped city governments from taxing church-owned homes occupied by religious school teachers. According to the municipal assessor's office, only one Anchorage church currently benefits from the 2006 amendment to the state tax code, and it's the same church that sought the amendment: the Anchorage Baptist Temple. 

Rep. Berta Gardner, a Democrat who represents Midtown, submitted the undo legislation on Monday as House Bill 305. The measure is co-sponsored by another Anchorage Democrat, Rep. Lindsey Holmes. 

"People support public services, we pay our taxes, and it just makes you really cranky to know you're also paying taxes for teachers at private religious schools," Gardner said in a phone interview from Juneau. 

The Daily News reported in January that the Anchorage Baptist Temple owns 14 houses exempt from taxes because they are occupied by ministers or teachers at the megachurch, including its chief pastor, the Rev. Jerry Prevo. 

Because none of the properties had been recently assessed, it was impossible to know precisely how much the exemptions were costing the city. Old assessment records indicate the total is more than $50,000 a year. 

The newspaper story also reported that evidence which emerged during the 2011 divorce trial of Prevo's son Allen, also a minister at the Baptist Temple, revealed that Allen had a secret agreement to purchase his home. The city is now investigating whether that deal, and similar agreements with three other pastors, violate state law that requires the church to own a property before it can be exempted. A city spokeswoman said this week that the investigation was nearing completion.

I applaud the introduction of this bill by Berta Gardner, and hope that she is prepared for the vitriol and hatred that is about to come her way.

You see Prevo is not a Christian in the tradition of Jesus Christ, he is a megalomaniac who does not believe that rules or laws pertain to him, and who uses his influence and fortune to punish those who dare to stand up to him.

In fact the reason that Prevo was able to get this sweetheart deal was that then state senator Lyda Green attached it to a bill in 2006, as she was directed to by then Senate President Ben Stevens, son of the late Senator Ted Stevens.

So like I said, Prevo has friends in high places. Low places too for that matter.

Personally I believe that churches should pay taxes just like any property owners.  After all they expect the police to protect them from crime, and the fire department to protect them from fire, so why can't they pay their fair share?

Especially somebody like Prevo whose congregation have made him a very wealthy man indeed.

Just when you thought the insanity in Arizona could not get any worse.

Courtesy of Az Central:

Members of the state Legislature, including Arizona's de facto governor, Senate President Russell Pearce, have introduced a bill that essentially would have Arizona secede from the union without having to do so officially.

Really.

It's called SB1433, (See it here.) It creates a 12-member committee within the legislature that could "vote by simple majority to nullify in its entirety a specific federal law or regulation that is outside the scope of the powers delegated by the people to the federal government…"

Committee members themselves would decide this, then pass along their recommendation to the full Legislature. If, in turn, a majority of state lawmakers go along with the committee then, according to the bill, "this state and its citizens shall not recognize or be obligated to live under the statute, mandate or executive order."

The nullification committee also would be permitted to review all existing federal laws to see if our legislative geniuses want to toss them out as well.

Do you know what?  The more I learn about Arizona, the more  I understand why the Palin family is drawn to it like moths to a flame.

Even John McCaiin looks like he can't take it anymore.

"Look!  I just wanted to be President!  I did not realize that allowing the succubus from Wasilla into the campaign would spread the crazy so fast and to so many corners of the country!"

Personally I feel for Arizona. After all I do live in Alaska! You know "the place from which the evil doth emerge!"

But we are trying to get control of our state back from the lunatic fringe.  That is why we drove Bible Spice Barbie out of office, and delivered a smackdown to the vaguely bearded Joe Miller. 

We still have a lot more to do, but we have at least made a start.  I hope that the intelligent, sane people of Arizona start getting organized and take their state back as well.

If they can do it in Egypt, I am confident we can do it in Alaska and Arizona.

Sarah Palin's credibility to take another hit as Alaska lawmakers prepare to override her veto of Stimulus money.

Legislative leaders say they appear to have enough votes to override Gov. Sarah Palin's veto of $28.6 million in federal stimulus money for energy cost relief. Alaska is the only state to have rejected these funds, and that's not sitting well.

"I would be surprised if we didn't override her," North Pole Republican Rep. John Coghill said Thursday.

Rep. Mike Hawker, another member of the legislative leadership, said that's his count too.

"This is just one of those cases where there is such a profound difference of opinion between the legislative branch of government and the executive branch," the Anchorage Republican said. "We could have one of those rare and difficult instances where we are actually able to override a governor's veto of an appropriation item." (Thanks again to AKM for the transcript.)

This is very good news for the people of Alaska.

I watched Governor Sarah's speech the other night where she said the following:

Of course there are strings attached, and so there were lots of warnings given to all the states that hey, unless your state is ready to chuck the 10th amendment, and you’re going to hand over willingly more power control to big centralized government and to D.C. politicians who are going to tell you what to do in your state, the warning was, legislatures be careful with the temptation with the stimulus package dollars.

These "strings" she speaks of are apparently visible only to her. The Alaska Legislators found few, if any strings.

The idea of rejecting money to improve energy efficiency in a place that is subjected to sub-zero temperatures for much of the year seems crazy on the face of it.

And crazy, may just be exactly what we are dealing with here. The more I learn about our Governor the harder it is for me to find her mentally competent.

Thankfully we have legislators in this state who still cling to their sanity. Though if they are forced to continue working with this Governor that sanity may soon be nothing more than a fond memory.

We are the last state to finally decide to take all of the stimulus money, every other state is laughing at us, and our crazy ass Governor.

Even that stubborn bastard, South Carolina Governor, Mark Sanford finally had to take ALL of the stimulus money for his state. Of course it took the bravery of a pair of South Carolina high school students to finally stand up to him.

Hopefully it will not come to that up here in Alaska, but if it does I have a few teenagers in mind who would be perfect for the job.

Sarah Palin vetoes State Legislators acceptance of Federal Stimulus money.

Gov. Sarah Palin announced today she is vetoing the state Legislature's decision to accept $28.6 million in federal economic stimulus money for energy relief.

Palin also vetoed nearly $12 million from the state budget for construction projects. The biggest project she targeted was the improvement of the Anchorage courthouse. She also cut Southeast Alaska projects funded with cruise ship tax money.

State legislators and U.S. Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, immediately criticized Palin for turning down the federal stimulus money. The money could have been used for weatherization and renewable energy projects

Palin argued that taking the stimulus money would require the state to entice local communities to adopt building codes. "There isn't a lot of support for the federal government to coerce Alaska communities to adopt building codes, but lawmakers can always exercise checks and balances by overriding my veto," Palin said in a written statement.

Anchorage Republican Rep. Mike Hawker said Palin is wrong about the building code requirement.

"We've researched this thoroughly, the governor's folks now have received a letter from the (U.S. Department of Energy) basically saying you don't have to come up with all these building codes," said Hawker, co-chairman of the House Finance committee.

Okay to all of the people who say that I am a "Palin-hater" or that I am being unfair to her highness, let me ask you what would you do if your Governor was this unbelievably stupid?

She is keeping MY state from receiving much needed funds to help people around Alaska save money on their heating bills and move us toward being more energy efficient overall.

And the reason she is doing it is because she is too fucking stupid to realize that she is working under a flawed assumption. Where are her advisers? Can't they read that letter to her from the US Department of Energy?

I am so frustrated I could just spit. I have been busting my ass to get the information to finally get her out of office and I have hit this damn wall. In the meantime she just keeps screwing my fellow Alaskans out of the financial support that they desperately need.

Not a good day for blogging in the Last Frontier, that is for damn sure.

(Here is Shannyn Moore's take on this ignorant move by Governor Sarah. And if you read Les Gara's follow up you will see it is even worse than we thought.)

My message to Sarah Palin. TAKE THE DAMN STIMULUS MONEY!!!!!

Here is a letter written by Senators Bill Wielechowski and Lesil McGuire and delivered to Governor Palin yesterday:

May 11, 2009

The Honorable Sarah Palin
Governor
State of Alaska
Capitol Building
Juneau, Alaska 99801

Dear Governor Palin,

Late last Friday, the legislature received new information from the U.S. Department of Energy
(USDOE) confirming that Alaska can meet the requirements for receipt of $28.6 million in State

Energy Program stimulus funds through adoption of local energy standards, rather than a statewide energy code. Attached is the letter Missouri sent to USDOE accepting the funds based on local codes as well as USDOE's confirmation that this approach is acceptable. Alaska could craft a similar letter and receive our share of these funds, without adopting a statewide code.

We also received new data last week from municipalities and other communities indicating that Alaska is most likely already meeting the State Energy Program funding requirement. Ninety two percent of Alaskans live in larger communities with populations of 2,500 or more. Of those,52% live in communities which already have energy codes in place, including Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau, Nome, Petersburg, Palmer, Seward, Valdez and Skagway. Ketchikan, Soldotna and Wrangell are in the process of adopting energy codes. Petersburg adopted the code specifically because of the number of structures funded by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation in that community.

Of those living in larger communities, 68% live in communities with building codes in place, which means that they have the mechanism in place for monitoring and enforcing an energy code should they choose to do so.

The above figures do not include structures funded by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation,which are built throughout Alaska. These structures plus any funded by the Denali Commission all meet energy standards.

This combined information leads us to believe that we are already likely compliant with the energy efficiency standards required by the State Energy Program funding guidelines.

Commercial buildings in the larger urban centers alone will get us very close to meeting
Senator Lesil McGuire
Co-Chair, Senate Resources
State Capitol Building, Room 125
Juneau, Alaska 99801-1182
Phone (907) 465-2995
Fax (907) 465-6592
Senator Bill Wielechowski
Co-Chair, Senate Resources
State Capitol Building, Room 115
Juneau, Alaska 99801-1182
Phone (907) 465-2435
Fax (907) 465-6615
compliance with 90% of new and renovated square footage. If we are not already meeting the requirements today, we are so close that we could easily meet them within the required
time frame.

The $28.6 million in State Energy Program funds will stimulate Alaska’s economy on multiple levels: reducing energy costs through energy efficiency and renewable energy projects; providing jobs and promoting energy efficient construction and renovation; and allowing for grant and incentive programs related to renewable energy and energy efficiency.

We have received letters from the Alaska Municipal League, AARP, Ketchikan, Anchorage, and Juneau encouraging acceptance of these funds.

It is very exciting to realize that Alaska likely already meets or is very close to meeting the requirements of the State Energy Program. Based on this new information, we respectfully ask that you accept these needed funds so that Alaska can use them to address our energy needs rather than sending them to another state.

Sincerely,
Senator Lesil McGuire
Senator Bill Wielechowski

Okay Governor is that clear enough for you?

You can take ALL of the money and still keep your reputation as a hard line conservative so that those simple minded followers of yours will vote for you in the highly unlikely case that you ever do run for President.

If Missouri can do it than there is absolutely NO reason that Alaskans cannot. The very idea that we are not as innovative as the people of Missouri is an insult to every man, woman, and child in our state. After all we are the people who flew twin engine planes, equipped with wings held on with rusty bolts and duct tape, through the harshest weather on the the freaking planet!

So Governor stop screwing around and just take ALL of the money. Remember we are Alaskans, we never turn down federal funds. It is just not who we are.

With the legislative session over I bet you thought that Governor Palin could no longer obstruct progress. Wrong again.

Palin will have 20 days, not counting Sundays and holidays, to decide whether to use her veto power on spending and policy measures. As of Saturday, only 10 of the 61 bills and 29 resolutions approved by the Legislature had been sent to the governor.

Bills commonly wait a week or two before landing on the governor's desk, giving lawyers and accountants a chance to review the legislation.

Sen. Joe Paskvan, D-Fairbanks, carried a bill that calls on Alaska to create an electronic health records system. The availability of federal money to launch the process was a motivator for lawmakers to approve the bill. The Department of Health and Social Services estimates the total cost to the state at $27.5 million, with almost $25 million coming in stimulus dollars if the state requests the money this year. The act offers a match of $10 in federal money for every $1 in state money the first year of the program. The federal match falls to $7 the following year and to $3 the year after.

However, Palin has not included that pot of money on her list of acceptable stimulus package money, citing strings attached.

Her final decision is not expected until May.

Ninety pieces of of unfinished legislative business. Sixty one bills and twenty nine resolutions are still waiting for the Governor to finally find the time out of her busy day of self promotion and preparing to run for president in 2012 to finally do her goddamn job.

Has there ever been a time in the entire history of Alaska that so much was left undone by its Governor? I doubt it very much.

The idea that we have to wait for this self absorbed pathetic excuse for a public servant to finally make time for the people who elected her to her office, and that she can undo all of the hard work done by the politicians who actually stayed at their jobs and tried to get things done, is infuriating.

The fact that she STILL has not signed off on ALL of the stimulus package alone should be enough to start impeachment proceedings against her, since it means that she is keeping services away from the Alaska people for purely selfish reasons.

Sarah Palin needs to be reminded EVERY SINGLE DAY that she works or us.

God can't we just elect Bob Poe now?